Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry pressured deputy AG to investigate election fraud in his state, shared debunked double-voting claim and introduced loyalist Jeffrey Clark to Trump, Senate report states
A new report by Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats retraces efforts by House 'Freedom Caucus' member Rep. Scott Perry to push election fraud claims to a top Justice Department official – who then passed them on to a US Attorney.
Perry is also credited with introducing former President Donald Trump to DOJ official Jeffrey Clark, who figures into tense standoff amid moves and threats by Trump to install loyalists who would back his election fraud claims.
He is among a group of members of the conservative House Caucus identified as having an influential role in the final days of the Trump administration – as Trump repeatedly phoned and met with allies to discuss his theories of election fraud, and confronted an internal revolt over his plans to install a loyalist atop the Justice Department.
Perry attended a Dec. 21 meeting along with fellow Freedom Caucus member Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan and others who 'strategized' about their plans for Jan. 6, where a 'Stop the Steal' rally was being planned.
Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania attended a Dec. 21 meeting along with fellow Freedom Caucus members and President Donald Trump where they strategized about the Jan. 6th 'Stop the Steal' rally, according to a new Judiciary Committee Democrats' report
Days later, Perry phoned senior DOJ official Richard Donoghue to pass on election fraud claims in Pennsylvania, where Trump and his allies were claiming fraud, but would suffer a series of legal setbacks.
The phone call came Dec. 27th, the same day Trump got Donoghue's cell phone number during a call that also included phoned acting deputy AG Jeffrey Rosen.
According to the report, which cites Donoghue's notes, Perry told Donoghue, the acting deputy attorney general, that Trump had asked him to call and that DOJ 'hadn't done its job with respect to the elections.'
Perry phoned a top DOJ official after former President Donald Trump asked for his cell phone number
The report tracks meetings involving Freedom Caucus members including Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who spoke with former President Trump on Jan. 6th
A separate select committee on Jan. 6th has subpoenaed documents from former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, a former House Freedom Caucus chair
Rep. Scott Perry (R. - PA) seen in a 2017 image with then President Donald Trump taken aboard Air Force One
He vouched for Jeff Clark, who Trump would threaten to install atop the agency, saying: 'He's the kind of guy who could really get in there and do something about this.'
He said he had information about 'things going on in Pennsylvania,' including 'the claim that there were 205,000 more votes than voters.'
When Donoghue said he had not seen fraud on the scale he was describing, Perry emailed information containing election fraud claims, including the claim that over 4,000 Pennsylvanians had voted more than once.
In fact, 4,000 residents had received two ballots. But this didn't result in duplicate votes, according to the report, which cites the secretary of state who said 'all the duplicate ballots are coded for the same voter, so if a voter tried to submit more than one, the system would literally prevent the second ballot from being counted.'
Donoghue forwarded the claims to the US Attorney in the state with a note saying: 'JFYI regarding allegations about PA voting irregularities, for whatever it may be worth.'
Jeff Clark
The US Attorney, Scott Brady, informed Donoghue that the claims 'were not well founded.'
A Perry spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.
On December 28th, according to the report timeline, Clark, having been introduced to Trump by Perry, 'approached Rosen and Donoghue with an audacious proposal: DOJ should inform the legislatures of Georgia and several other states that it was investigating voting irregularities, and recommend that each state legislature call a special session to consider appointing an alternate slate of electors.'
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois said the findings led him to believe Trump would have 'shredded the Constitution to stay in power.'
'Today’s report shows the American people just how close we came to a constitutional crisis,' Durbin wrote in a statement.
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